Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a very great lie.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 979/1: from ca. 1860.

(b) a first-rate man or woman, an excellent article, animal or thing.

1838		Bell’s Life in London 26 Aug. 4/1: One of Mr. Mynn’s best balls, technically a ‘ripper’, took the top of the middle stump .
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 40: In conjunction with the above is Miss Emma Watling, a regular ripper.
1852		G.C. Mundy Our Antipodes II 238: More than one of them had been regularly bowled out of the ground by the thirty-two-pounders, like a wicket stump by a ‘ripper’ from Alfred Mynn!
1856		in G.D. Atkin House Scraps (1887) 24: I’ve had such a ripper from A. B. C.!
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 29 Aug. 2/6: [I]f appearance and coming of a good family are worth anything, she [i.e.a racehorse] should turnout a ripper.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 223/1: The ‘Great and important battle between the two young ladies of fortune,’ is what we calls ‘a ripper’.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 30/1: Ain’t she a ripper? By heavens, what a ‘kick’ full of ‘sugar’ she must carry, eh?
1876		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer 274: If I git to be a reg’lar ripper of a robber, [...] I reckon she’ll be proud.
1883		‘Mark Twain’ Life on the Mississippi (1914) 337: [of an explosion] That was a ripper!
1886		M.E. Kennard Girl in the Brown Habit I 77: By Jingo! she’s a regular ripper, and no mistake.
1890		H. Fludyer Letters 2: We went [...] to the Alhambra in the evening, and saw a strong man. He’s a ripper!
1899		Boy’s Own Paper 17 June 610: My new boat is a ripper!
1900		Marvel XIV:348 July 1: This ’ere yarn ain’t half a ripper!
1904		B.L. Farjeon Amblers 285: Ain’t she a ripper?
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 22 Sept. 1/1: A burly flat bookmaker is reckoned a ripper by his pals.
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure Ch. ix: ‘Did you see the girl I was with at the Savoy?’ ‘Yes,’ said Jimmy. ‘She’s a ripper,’ said Lord Dreever, devoutly.
1915		Magnet Library 25 Sept. 2: From what I’ve heard it must be a ripper.
1919		‘Bartimeus’ ‘The Wooing of Mouldy Jakes’ in Awfully Big Adventure 7: Our governess. She’s a perfect ripper.
1933		J.B. Booth Pink Parade 34: Here, I say, you fellows, I’ve made a splendid joke; come and listen to it! Isn’t it a ripper!
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 109: ‘Good letter, Chips?’ A gurgle. ‘It’s a ripper!’.
1963		Canberra Times (ACT) 16 Aug. 42: Moonee Valley 12.20 1st Ailsa H’Cap [...] 00 LITTLE RIPPER 4 G. Gibb.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 78: What a bloody ripper. Dat stopped ya Wrecker.
1972		J. Wambaugh Blue Knight 267: He was a ripper [...] A handsome dog. Loved his food and drink and women.
1980		Aus. Women’s Wkly 22 Oct. 146s/3: Hogan’s next show goes on air on October 22 [...] And it is a ripper.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 22: It’ll still be a good night. A ripper in fact .
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 44: Ripper: An expression of joy. If someone shouts, ‘You little ripper’, it means that his horse has won the race.
1992		R.G. Barrett Davo’s Little Something 47: Tonight promised to be a ripper of a concert.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 216: little ripper general term of praise and approbation.
2003		www.thepantsman.com 🌐 This is the main event. The previous episode was merely a dress rehearsal. This one is a ripper.
2015		N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] I had just been given the opportunity to fulfil my life-long dream of catching a shark. You ripper!
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 351: ‘Oh, mate. You don’t know? It’s [i.e. a business rivalry] a ripper.’.

(c) an attractive young woman.

1846		Swell’s Night Guide 40: In conjunction with the above is Miss Emma Watling, a regular ripper.
1866		Night Side of N.Y. 31: [He] leads out from her retirement by the wall a tall, square-shouldered ‘ripper’.
1879		‘’Arry on the River’ in Punch 9 Aug. 57/1: We see a swell boat with three ladies, sech rippers, in crewel and buff.
1905		Sporting Times 1 Apr. 3/4: And that poor lady, the beautiful countess—Gad! she’s a ripper!

(d) Aus. in neg. use of sense 1, something acutely annoying.

1986

R.G. Barrett Real Thing 44: What a bloody ripper [...] Three hundred [dollars] straight down the drain.

(a) a murderer who specializes in mutilation, often for sexual purposes.

[1890		Pall Mall Gazette 7 Mar. 5/1: A Jack the Ripper outrage at Moscow].
1890		Cornishman 18 Dec. 7/5: Jean-the-Ripper. A returned convict named Lacassin, shot his wife [...] and ripped her body open with a knife.
1894		Leeds Times 17 Nov. 8/2: American Rippers [...] The series of extraordinary murders in Denver [etc.].
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 209/2: Ripper, daring murderer of women.
1931		Dundee Courier 3 July 7/2: [headline] German Ripper’s Execution.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

(b) in attrib. use of sense 2.

1891		Hartlepool Mail 15 May 3/4: The sensational Ripper murder in New York City.
1903		Sheffield Dly Teleg. 5 Oct. 8/3: A Ripper Murder [...] The mutilated body of a hop picker named Mary Swinburne [...] was found [...] The neck and trunk were terribly hacked about.
1909		Western Times 19 Feb. 16/3: Another Ripper outrage in Berlin. Another stabbing outrage was perpetrated on a young girl [etc.].
1921		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 16 Mar. 3/5: ‘Ripper’ Crime [...] the victim was killed by what criminal experts call the ‘ripper’ methods [...] The ripper then proceeded to mutilate the body.
1930		Nottingham Eve. Post 24 Oct. 1/2: The judicial examination of Peter Kuerten, [...] arrested for the Dusseldorf ‘Ripper’ murders.

(c) a knife.

1895

Mirror of Life 24 Aug. 2/2: Little more than fifty years ago America was the home of the ‘ripper,’ ‘tickler,’ and ‘persuader,’ and England was renowned as the birthplace of an art which was supposed to be the antidote to that bane.

(d) (UK und.) a violent blow.

1899

Sketch (London) 22 Feb. 18: ‘Another o’ the crowd catches ’im a ripper be’ind’ .

(e) (US prison) a rapist.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Ripper: Rapist. (CT).